Sciences Academy to Urge Smoking Ban on Airliners

The National Academy of Sciences will call today for a ban on smoking on all domestic airline flights because of the potential threat to nonsmokers from “passive” cigarette smoke, according to a summary of the report made available Tuesday.

In addition, the prestigious academy concluded that eliminating the smoking sections on airplanes would lessen the irritation and discomfort to passengers and crew; remove the potential for cigarette fires aboard aircraft and upgrade the quality of aircraft cabin air to the standards for other closed environments.

Academy spokesman Pepper Leeper declined to comment on the report until it is officially released today. The study was prepared in response to a congressional mandate to determine whether federal regulations of cabin air sufficiently protect the health and safety of passengers and crew.

Activist Hails Findings

John Banzhaf, whose anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health has actively pursued smoking bans on airlines, hailed the academy’s findings. “We hope it will serve as a catalyst for a new move to ban smoking on flights,” Banzhaf said.

In recent years, many health experts have expressed increasing concern about the effects of passive smoke on nonsmokers. In June, the American Medical Assn. endorsed a similar smoking ban on all domestic flights, saying that providing separate sections for smokers and nonsmokers does not prevent smoke from drifting into nonsmoking sections.

But the Tobacco Institute, which represents domestic cigarette manufacturers, sharply disputed the academy’s findings, saying Tuesday that the conclusions are not supported by detailed testing. Copies of the report’s executive summary were distributed by the trade group.

Cites Industry Study

“Cigarette smoking is not a proven health hazard on commercial airliners,” said Scott Stapf, assistant to the president of the institute.

Stapf said a recent study by researchers at the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. showed that a passenger seated in a nonsmoking section of a U.S. commercial airliner would have to make eight continuous New York-to-Tokyo round trips to be exposed to the nicotine equivalent of one cigarette.

The academy’s recommendation “does not fly and should be grounded permanently,” he said.

In its findings, the academy said that it considered several alternatives for reducing passive smoke on board aircraft. However, it ruled out as “economically unfeasible” structural changes to increase ventilation or the building of barriers around smoking sections.

Restrictions Date to 1973

Moreover, it concluded that random distribution of smokers throughout the cabin “would be unacceptable to a majority of the traveling public.”

Federal restrictions limiting smoking on board U.S. commercial aircraft have existed since 1973, when the Civil Aeronautics Board required airlines to provide separate sections for nonsmokers. In 1979, the board banned cigar and pipe smoking on planes.

In 1984, the board initially voted to ban all smoking on flights lasting up to two hours--which would have covered more than 90% of domestic flights--but quickly changed its mind and decided to limit the complete ban to planes with 30 or fewer seats.

Because the board is now defunct, a federal requirement for a smoking ban on airlines would have to be proposed by the Transportation Department.

Not Many Complaints

William Jackman, spokesman for the Air Transport Assn., which represents the major airlines, said that with current restrictions in place the issue of smoking “has not been a subject of a lot of complaints.”

And Matthew Finucane, director of safety for the Assn. of Flight Attendants, said his organization has taken no official position on a smoking ban. But, he noted, the group has expressed concern about the need for improvements in aircraft ventilation systems.